Mr. Humility: It says a lot about how Chad Ochocinco felt about Chris Henry that in his brightest moment yesterday at Qualcomm Stadium, in the spotlight he so craves, the flamboyant Bengals receiver was overtaken by humility. When Ochocinco hauled in a 49-yard touchdown pass in the second quarter to give Cincinnati a 10-7 lead, he did nothing that would draw another fine from the NFL. He simply knelt, looked up to the heavens, put his fist to his chest, and quietly repeated one phrase. “I said, ‘Eighty-five plus 15 will always be 100 ways to be great,’ “ Ochocinco said. “It’s a little thing we used to say to each other all of the time. I said it over and over and over and over.” Ochocinco wears No. 85 and Henry wore 15. The 26-year-old Henry died on Thursday, a day after he fell out of the back of a truck during a domestic dispute with his fiancee.

Taking it hard: Ochocinco seemed to take Henry’s death particularly hard because he mentored the young receiver, who had gone through numerous off-the-field problems before apparently turning his life around. “The outside doesn’t understand. It was bigger than football with me and him,” Ochocinco said at his crowded locker, his voice cracking at times and his eyes hidden by dark sunglasses. “I can’t even explain it. You have somebody like that (whom) you take under your wing for five years, and you see them hit that turn, and turn the right way. I mean … y’all know the story. It’s hard. He was like a brother.”

No jersey tribute: Ochocinco initially planned to don a No. 15 jersey for the game to honor the man he called “Slim,” but the NFL said it would fine him for doing so. He said he decided not to do it because it would be a distraction to his team. The Bengals wore stickers with “15” on their helmets. “You have certain media types who had the nerve to say I was making the situation about me,” Ochocinco said. “When I hear something like that, hear the NFL will still fine me … are you serious? … Everybody grieves and mourns in a different way. My way would have been out there wearing that jersey, ‘cause I knew if I was gone, Slim would have had on 85 today, trust me. But when it turned into a negative, that’s when I had to backtrack and think, ‘You know, Slim wouldn’t want that.’ Today I went out and played with an extra set of hands, extra set of legs and extra heart.”

Running away: Ochocinco caught three passes for 79 yards and had a 26-yard run in the fourth quarter that set up the Cincinnati TD that closed the gap to 24-21 Chargers. Talking about the running play, Ochocinco laughed when he recalled why he changed direction and sprinted across the field toward the left sideline. “Freakin’ Shawne Merriman was following me,” he said. “ … Shawne’s presence made me reverse the entire field.” Perhaps that was Ochocinco’s makeup kiss for having said on Wednesday, before Henry’s accident, that he wanted to “beat Shawne’s head in.”